{"id":1,"date":"2016-09-20T15:42:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T15:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/?p=1"},"modified":"2026-03-04T14:53:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:53:27","slug":"hello-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/20\/hello-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello world!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some years ago, a page named Irony.com<\/a> used to have all sorts of generators; but then one day it all disappeared<\/a>. I wanted to have something I could rely on.<\/p>\n

And this is how I got started with the rpg20.com<\/a> site.<\/p>\n

Monsters<\/h2>\n

The monsters<\/a> database is what started it all. When WoTC released the SRD, I thought of writing a script that converted the document to a more manageable medium. I was already thinking of PHP and MySQL.<\/p>\n

Before taking a dive into this endeavor, I searched the web. Turns out that some guy named John H. Kim<\/a> had already done exactly that. And best of all: he was willing to share it.<\/p>\n

I downloaded the monster and spell databases and uploaded to my page. After a quick hack, I had a usable UI. I then added a search function, list by CR option, filter by HP\/CR, and not so long ago: terrain and climate search.<\/p>\n

Images and maps<\/h2>\n

Then I thought about generating images. One of the things I remember most fondly about Ed’s Irony.com was that it generated an image of a town\/village. So I thought I’d give it a try.<\/p>\n

\"Ugly
Ugly map<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the thing is… I think I’m terrible at drawing maps. So this has been something I’ve had a hard time doing: visual improvements.<\/p>\n

But I told myself that dungeons should be pretty straightforward. And they look cool. And I love mazes. So I went ahead and made a dungeon generator.<\/p>\n

\"image
A generated Dungeon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evolution<\/h2>\n

I think I only had the monster\/spell databases and the dungeon generator when I showed the page to a friend. He asked if I intended to put something in the room… descriptions, encounters, anything. A few minutes later my dungeon generator had monsters. Not long after that, it started having treasures.<\/p>\n

But then I started thinking: I could have a region<\/a> map that has one or more cities<\/a> (and cities have taverns<\/a>, right?), and maybe a dungeon<\/a> somewhere, and there could be caves<\/a> in a mountain.<\/p>\n

So I’m at the point in which I have a ton of plans and not nearly enough free time to work on it. Ah, well… I still have fun even if it progresses slowly.<\/p>\n

The code<\/h2>\n

These tools are online-only and most of them written in PHP. I don’t have any plans to develop offline-tools at the moment because it’s a bit more complicated: I’d have to compile for Linux, Mac, and Windows (I don’t own a Mac); any minor change requires to recompile everything; people don’t always know which version they’re using; etc.<\/p>\n

Will this page dissapear? Well, it might some day. But before that happens, I’d release this code someplace else.<\/p>\n

What’s the license for my code? I haven’t decided yet, and nobody’s asked so far… I guess I could use GPL<\/a> to make sure modifications are shared back… But I guess I’ll decide as soon as someone’s interested in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some years ago, a page named Irony.com used to have all sorts of generators; but then one day it all disappeared. I wanted to have something I could rely on. And this is how I got started with the rpg20.com site. Monsters The monsters database is what started it all. When WoTC released the SRD, … Continue reading “Hello world!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-ramblings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpg20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}